Satellite Wi Fi Hot Spot

I put a call into a rep about cost of the plans etc. It seems that with an app you can use your I phone or Droid smart phone with this hotspot to essentially have a satellite phone using your existing phone. Data is sold by the minute not in Giga bytes. An unlimited plan with data and minutes is $149 a month I think is what I understood. The speed is relatively slow. Just made for checking emails phone calls etc. Not surfing the internet or streaming video or sending pictures. Less interested now.
D.D.
 
Notice the North American Globelstar coverage map on the website? They don't wast their power and bandwidth on really out of the way places. Such as Latin America. So one had better define what out-of-the-way means. It certainly doesn't mean in the middle of the Pacific.

sat-fi-coverage_lg_june2014_2.jpg

Boris
 
There are a lot of places on the coverage map that are out in the middle of no where. It looks like the inside passage and Alaska have coverage. I'm sure most would check to insure coverage if they were on a world wide adventure. Thanks for pointing out there is no coverage in the middle of the Pacific.
:D
D.D.
 
Out in the middle of the Pacific includes places such as Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands. And I notice that we have a C-Brat on the north shore of Alaska as well. And whilst there are no C-Dories making the transit from Hawaii to Tahiti, we have a lot of them in areas that Globalstar considers fringe. My post was to meant to suggest to check before you get committed.

The global satellite business is interesting to watch. Globalstar started in the late '80s, launched in the '90s and went bankrupt in the '00s, which appears to be a typical life cycle. A great idea, too expensive to sustain business, bankruptcy lowers the cost and it keeps on going. A LLC group bought Globalstar and is launching a second round of satellites that are supposed to last longer. Built in Italy, still launched by the Russians.

The Globsalstar satellite is a "bent-pipe," which just means that the satellite receives an uplink signal from (in this case) a phone and retransmits the signal back to the ground with minimal processing. Now a spacecraft has very limited power to transmit messages as well as limited space for antennas, so the antennas are aimed at populated areas and the power spent on the highest volume of messages. They aren't interested in waiting for a guy in "an out of the way" place to call and their coverage shows it. They want to serve the places on earth with the highest number of cell phones, such as the USA. If you look at their worldwide coverage, there is no signal in Africa, for instance. And the light yellow indicates a weak signal.

Thus, if your out of the way area is somewhere in the middle of the Mohave Desert, you're going to get a decent signal, because Grobalstar has to cover the USA. However, if you're 100 miles (167 KM as the Canadians say,) north of Prince Rupert and inland, I'd make a test run before I'd depend on it.

voice-coverage_map_june19_14.jpg


Boris
 
I got a call from the GPS store the people who sell the Globalstar satellite hot spots and sat phones this morning. They said they are going to be having an upgrade in about six months that will allow for faster speeds allowing you to be able to actually surf the net etc. My thought is that when the price comes down this might allow for travel to Canada etc. without needing to get crazy phone plans to be able to keep in touch while in Canada. Check the coverage zone using the link in the original post. Or call the GPS Store directly.
D.D.
 
So $900 for hotspot device, $150 per month data plan. $180 per month for iPhone plan or $550 for sat phone. Did I get this right?
 
Judy changes our Verizon plan to include Canada when we go up into and past the Gulf Islands. The price is ~$20 more per month and we buy it on a monthly basis. 1000 min in Canada, unlimited in the USA. Of course, one has to be in view of a wireless tower, no magic there.

The downside is that when we get back we don't get the old deal.

Boris
 
JKSWOR,
I think my idea was to just mention what I thought was to me an interesting new product. I was in no way suggesting these products were a good deal. I think in the future prices will come down. Some folks who live in the continental U.S.A. can only access the internet buy satellite. I was not in any way try to sell the data plan or the satellite hotspot. I guess the thought was by Globalstar was these hotspots would allow multiple users to have access to the web for emails and phone calls. I'm also guessing they figured many an folks that already have a smart cell phone and with an app they could make calls via satellite using the satellite hotspot. Do I think they are a good deal? No, Do it think they are cheaper than buying a sat phone, no. Do I think they might be of interest to some? Yes. I bet there are some people who are going to buy one and try it. The 150 dollar plan I mentioned is for unlimited minutes for both data and phone calls. There are other less expensive plans.
D.D.
 
Will-C, you posted an interesting topic and you got some semi-intelligent discussion. And for that I certainly thank you.

Communications with spacecraft and communication spacecraft are topics with which I was involved. Both the technology and commercial business model fascinate me, and I love to discuss them. You brought me somewhat up to date on Globalstar.

In addition, we did need communications in the middle of the Pacific, not Hawaii, and the choices were slim. The only semi-certain way was the ham bands and I realized the nascent satellite services weren't meant for us in the middle of nowhere, but for people in the cities with big bucks. There's more of them than the few out in nowhere.

Anyway, I appreciate you bringing up this topic for whatever your reason was.

Boris
 
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